The New Nation - Internet Edition

Muhammad Zamir

Most of us consider a free, fair and credible election to be the first step towards achieving the eventual goal of democratic governance. Special emphasis is also laid in this regard on the concept of arranging a 'level playing field' so that controversy does not surface after the polls and questions are not raised about its acceptability.

Elections in Bangladesh are volatile, to say the least. We have already seen how the previous Administration tried to 'load the dice' so that the election planned for January 2007 would prolong their tenure in office. There was careful and pre-meditated planning. It included efforts to affect the existing rules of engagement even in the matter of selecting the possible head of the next Caretaker Government. The retirement age of Judges was changed to facilitate the appointment of a particular individual. The voters list was diluted with spurious entries.

It was fortunate that this nefarious effort was undone through the changes that took place on 11 January, 2007.

Since then almost two years have passed. We are faced again with another parliamentary election in a few days. It has been a long haul. Within this period, efforts have been made to establish a credible paradigm. Full credit goes to the armed forces for helping the Election Commission in revising the electoral rolls, discarding ghost voters and duplications and initiating the onerous task of starting an ID base with photographs.

Emphasis has also been accorded by the current government to the introduction of good governance through the reconstitution of the Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC), the Central Public Service Commission and the Election Commission and the revising of their organograms and their standard operating procedures. Significant measures have also been adopted with regard to ensuring independence of the judiciary from the executive and establishing a National Human Rights Commission and a Regulatory Reforms Commission. The principle of right to information has also been taken a step forward. One wishes that the process would have been taken to its logical conclusion through the appointment of an Ombudsman. Unfortunately, this has not happened.

Despite these positive movements, the political situation, as has been pointed out by the International Crisis Group from Brussels, continues to be 'complex and fragile'. Regardless of who wins the election, the next government and the opposition parties will face 'the challenges of making parliament work and contending with an army that wants a greater say in politics'. The new Parliament will also have to finish the task of ensuring greater transparency and accountability- indispensable factors in the matrix of good governance. It will require bi-partisanship and political will. It is hoped that these principles will not be in short supply.

The nation watched with dismay how returning to democratic governance was made unnecessarily difficult through lack of coordination between the Election Commission and the Returning Officers (over allocation of poll symbols), the opaque nature of decision-making by the Election Commission, the introduction of controversial rules within the polls process and the continuation of the emergency provisions. This resulted in confusion and complications. Principles related to being a defaulter, the providing of documentary evidence in support of a candidate's educational or wealth status or written support of one per cent of that constituency's electorate similarly become stumbling blocks.

The ideas had merit in themselves but the methods by which they were implemented opened doors of disagreement and in many cases led to judicial appeals. This left a bitter taste that could have been avoided if the entire process was handled with greater care. Hopefully, the next time round, the lessons would have been learnt.

In this context, it needs to be noted that just having an election should not be considered as enough. In the book of democracy it is just the first chapter. For all the political parties, the challenge will only start after the polling day. A smooth transition to a functioning democracy will require resisting the 'winner-take-all' mentality and co-operating in the tackling of serious national issues within the Parliament and its Standing Committees by identifying least common denominators.

In this regard, it has been heartening to note that the larger political parties, in their respective manifestos have laid emphasis on some common issues. They want to successfully tackle the problem of spiralling prices, graft control (the Awami League suggesting capacity building within the ACC), the power and energy crisis (with Awami League suggesting the exploitation of renewable resources), disaster management, food self-sufficiency, gender empowerment, water management and the providing of proper sanitation. Special attention is also expected to be given to the creation of a comprehensive employment policy and skill development training.

The Awami League has also stated that, if elected to power, it will initiate necessary steps to try war criminals, to complete the trial of those involved with the August 15 massacre, the 1975 jail killings and the grenade attack carried out on August 21. If these trials are completed, it will strengthen the rule of law and the factors associated with accountability. Consistent with this, steps should also be taken to uphold human dignity through the effective implementation of human rights, to prevent extra-judicial killings and deaths in custody and to carry out a careful parliamentary review of all the Ordinances issued during the Emergency.

It is understood that most political parties want to make the Parliament more effective. The Awami League and the BNP have already proposed that their parties will offer one post of Deputy Speaker and also Chairmanship of important parliamentary committees to the Opposition. This is a good initiative. It would however also be useful for arriving at a consensus in dealing with the controversial provisions of Article 70 (crossing the floor) of the Constitution. This is vital for democratic norms within the process of parliamentary democracy and also within the political party itself.

The Members of Parliament will also have to find common paths on how to become more business friendly and agree on measures pertaining to e-govemance, foreign direct investment, business process outsourcing and economic zones. They will also need to continue the ongoing drive against institutional corruption and 'system loss', ensure effective decentralisation in local government and set in place a community and village-based marketing system and strategy. Whoever wins, will also need to introduce a more effective management in the rural areas of the educational and health sectors.

Achieving these objectives might be difficult, but they are definitely not impossible. Political parties can accomplish their tough objectives if they discard the cronyism of the past and dysfunctional governance and adopt consensus-driven politics based on vision. We have resource constraints, but we must now stand up and demonstrate that democratic political governance, intolerant of corruption, can turn us into the middle-income country that we dreamt of during our War of Liberation in 1971.

(Muhammad Zamir is a former Secretary and Ambassador and can be reached at mzamir@dhaka.net)